WHAT: A series of photo frames for your Facebook profile picture celebrating, which is today (October 11).
WHO:acebook developed the frames in partnership with a series of non-profit organizations and NGOs from around the world–the Girl Scouts of America, Afrika Tikkun in South Africa, Akili Dada in Kenya, Australia’s Because I Am A Girl, the Centre for Social Research in India, Canada’s Girl 20, Nigeria’s She Leads Africa, and Skool in Hungary.
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WHY WE CARE: Facebook photo frames and filters pop up to honor all sorts of occasions–the rainbow filter to show your support for gay marriage, or the French flag to show solidarity with the people of Paris after the terror attack there last year–and the site added the ability to add a custom frame earlier this year. But the platform Facebook possesses to highlight specific events and causes means that certain occasions get brought to the world’s awareness in ways that they might not otherwise. International Day Of The Girl, which was recognized by a United Nations resolution in 2011 to urge countries around the world to ensure equal access to education, leadership, and other opportunities for girls, is the sort of cause that it’d be easy to forget exists without the megaphone that is Facebook urging people to add a frame to their photo to spread awareness of not just the existence of the event, but also the cause–and the need for it–that October 11 commemorates. If you’re wondering what’s up with the photo frames your friends are sharing on Facebook today, in other words, it’s working.
